Applications

Yahoo! Go 3.0 (Beta)

Yahoo! Go 3.0 (Beta)

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Yahoo! Go 3.0 Beta is now available for the Blackjack 2 …and it looks amazing.

Yahoo! Go 3.0 has an incredibly sleek interface and is light years ahead of the competition as a mobile dashboard.

Yahoo! Go 3.0 (Beta)

If you are a Yahoo! user this is a MUST have. If you haven’t decided on your Web Application company of choice (Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft) and are a heavy mobile user, definitely check this out!

If you’re in the Yahoo! camp, then this application is for you. It is a dashboard that give you quick access to all your favorite Yahoo! applications including: Yahoo! Mail, Flickr, Yahoo! Maps, Finance/Stocks, Weather and much more. You can also install third-party widgets for things like eBay, MySpace and MTV News that you can download from within Yahoo!Go 3.0 Beta (goto the Settings page) or from the Yahoo! mobile Web site.

Yahoo!Go makes me wish i liked the rest of their products!

I was unable to follow the download Hyperlink in the SMS Message using Opera Mobile - I had to open the link in PocketIE.

Thanks to David Hersh for tipping me off that Yahoo!Go is available for the Samsung Blackjack 2.

MSN Direct

MSN Direct

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Microsoft has released a Home Screen add-on called MSN Direct that displays News, Weather and Stocks in a bubble on your home screen. Selecting any of the sections will launch a full screen application with which you can browser Weather forecasts, Various new items, and Stock indices.

MSN Direct

There are links to Microsoft services (or ads? call them what you will) injected into the home screen menu.

MSN Direct is not available as a stand-alone application, it can only be run from the Home screen using the MSN Direct Theme, which I find annoying.

If you are using a non-fixed height Home screen Theme (like any of the themes on this site) this is a decent plug-in, though it takes up a little too much screen real-estate for my liking.

Caution: Before installing this theme, make sure you are using a non-fixed width theme. When installed MSN Direct will inject itself into your current theme directly below the Date/Time lines.

Mobile Reversi (Othello)

Mobile Reversi (Othello)

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Mobile Reversi is a very rudimentary port of the game Othello. The objective of this classic strategy game is to finish the game with the greatest number of pieces on the board. You can flip your opponent’s (the computer) pieces by positioning your pieces around their pieces. (Check out Wikipedia’s page for full instructions on how to play)

I’ve been a fan of Othello/Reversi for quite some time now and was thrilled to find a version for my phone. My one gripe is the computer plays it’s hand so quickly its hard to figure out which move it made (you can see the effects of the move, but its hard to see where the new piece was placed). Anyhow - a great strategy game that will undoubtedly waste many hours of your life (but in a good way).

Mobile Reversi (Othello) Screenshot

“My Score” is the computer’s score, “Your Score” is your score. … and oh yeah, there is one difficulty setting: Hard :)

Kevtris 2.0

Kevtris 2.0

Download Page

Kevtris is an incredibly well executed FREE Tetris clone for the Blackjack 2.

Kevtris’ features include:

  • Easy, Medium or Hard game play options
  • Classic Tetris, Wacky Blocks, Slider, and Wack Slider games (the last 3 variations on the Classic Tetris game)
  • (Optional, you can play in offline-mode) Online high scores (see where you rank compared to other Kevtris players)

Kevtris 2.0

Pocket SNES (Super Nintendo Emulator)

Pocket SNES (Super Nintendo Emulator)

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Super Nintendo Emulation has arrived. Pocket SNES is a great Super Nintendo Emulator for the Blackjack 2. The graphics are superb, as to be expected, and it plays pretty well. The one thing I’m getting used to is the 4 button key placement (A, B, X, Y) .. i haven’t found the perfect key mapping to allow me to easily hold down multiple buttons at once.

The CAB file installs a PocketSNES shortcut in Start > Games.

Pocket SNES (Super Nintendo Emulator)

When you start PocketSNES the first time, go to Options > Keys… and define you’re all your keys, especially the “Menu” key. (I was unable to figure out what the default “Menu” key mapping was after I entered the game)

To download SNES Roms visit RomNation or Google “SNES Roms Download”.

Note: You will not be able to download ROMs directly to your smartphone using PocketIE (Mobile Internet Explorer). PocketIE supports very few mime-types/file extensions for download and ROM files aren’t included. I suggest using Opera Mobile to download the ROM files directly to you Smartphone, or download them to your computer and copy them over to your Smartphone using ActiveSync/Bluetooth/etc.

If you have are having problems installing and using the PocketSNES emulator, checkout this YouTube video.

Performance suggestions:

  • Display Settings: Portrait Landscape
  • Display Settings: Select “Auto Frame Skip”
  • Display Settings: Set “Frame Skip” to “4″
  • Sound Options: Don’t enable sound

If you want sound, make sure: Settings > Sounds > Other Sounds > Wheel Key sound > On (Thanks to shoemup for the tip!)

Disclaimer: Please verify the legality of any ROM file you download - some ROMs may be legal to download, others may not be.

PicoDrive (Sega Genesis/MegaDrive Emulator)

PicoDrive (Sega Genesis/MegaDrive Emulator)

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PicoDrive is a great open source Sega Genesis/MegaDrive emulator. With PicoDrive you can play your favorite Sega games like Sonic, Alterted Beast and Splatterhouse! The graphics are very nice and the game play is pretty smooth. Some ROMs may not work 100% with PicoDrive, but there’s only one way to find out.

I suggest turning off the Sound because on some games to prevent buggy behavior.

The CAB file installs a PocketSNES shortcut in Start > Games.

PicoDrive (Sega Genesis/MegaDrive Emulator)

You can download Sega ROMs from RomNation, RomWorld, or just Google the term “Sega Roms”. I suggest making a special folder on your Storage Card or in /My Documents/ that contains all your Sega ROM files.

Note: You will not be able to download ROMs directly to your smartphone using PocketIE (Mobile Internet Explorer). PocketIE supports very few mime-types/file extensions for download and ROM files aren’t included. I suggest using Opera Mobile to download the ROM files directly to you Smartphone, or download them to your computer and copy them over to your Smartphone using ActiveSync/Bluetooth/etc.

Disclaimer: Please verify the legality of any ROM file you download - some ROMs may be legal to download, others may not be.

SPVMan (Pacman clone)

SPVMan (Pacman clone)

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SPVMan is a great Pacman clone for the Blackjack 2 — I don’t think much else needs to be said about it. I’ve created a CAB installer that installs the game along with a SPVMan shortcut in Start > Games.

It’s a pretty fun game - great for killing a couple minutes here and there.

SPVMan (Pacman clone)

Controls

  • D-Pad Moves
  • Back soft-key exits
  • I don’t know if suspending/saving games is possible
Pocket NES (Nintendo)

Pocket NES (Nintendo)

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What’s better than DOOM on your Blackjack 2? Why, all your favorite Nintendo games! Pocket NES is a Nintendo emulator for Smartphones.

  1. To install Pocket NES, download and install the CAB file.
  2. Copy your favorite ROM files (Google “Nintendo ROMs download”, or check out RomNation.net) to your Blackjack 2.
  3. If you have a storage card I suggest making a Folder on it and copy all your ROMs into it.
  4. Launch PocketNester
    1. Open Start > Games > PocketNester
    2. Select File > Open Rom > Browse to the locate of your ROM files on your Device/Storage card

    - OR -

    1. Open the File Explorer application on your Blackjack 2 (Start > Applications > File Explorer) and navigate to the folder containing your ROM files.
    2. Select the ROM file of the Nintendo game you would like to play and press the D-Pad select button.
  5. Presto - Nintendo on your Smartphone. Life doesn’t get much better.

Pocket NES (Nintendo)

I apologize for the screen shot, I had to use my digital camera - my screen capture software wouldn’t work with it. The colors are much better in real life.

Here are a couple tips to get you started:

  • By default, hit “S” to pull up the Pocket NES menus.
  • To get back to the game from the Pocket NES menus, go to File > Resume.
  • By default, the controls are:
    • D-PAD moves (up, down, left, right)
    • “O” is Button A
    • “P” is Button B
    • “G” is Select
    • “H” is Start
  • You can change the controls by:
    1. Hitting “S” to get to the Pocket NES menus
    2. Selecting “Options”
    3. Selecting “Controllers”
    4. Assign new key values for the different NES controls.

Note: You will not be able to download ROMs directly to your smartphone using PocketIE (Mobile Internet Explorer). PocketIE supports very few mime-types/file extensions for download and ROM files aren’t included. I suggest using Opera Mobile to download the ROM files directly to you Smartphone, or download them to your computer and copy them over to your Smartphone using ActiveSync/Bluetooth/etc.

Disclaimer: Please verify the legality of any ROM file you download - some ROMs may be legal to download, others may not be.

DOOM

DOOM

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Doom, now available for the Blackjack 2.

Download it.

Now.

Doom Screenshot.png

D-Pad moves, Z shoots, Space opens, Q pulls up the menu. I still haven’t figured out how to strafe though!

Big Thanks to RCX for the port.

BeeJive

BeeJive

Download Page (Beta)

BeeJive (sometime’s refered to as JiveTalk) has made a pretty slick mobile instant messanging client for the Windows Mobile 6+. It supports a wide variety of chat protocols and sports a easy to use interface that works well even on smaller screens (like the Blackjack II’s).  I’ve replaced Palringo with BeeJive.. They’re very similar applications but BeeJive makes alittle better use of the screen real estate and I like how it notifies of new instant messages/updates to instant message conversations in the background.

BeeJive is currently FREE for Windows Mobile 6.x because its in beta — if/when BeeJive costs money I will most definitely switch back to Palringo.

BeeJive

BeeJive supports:

  • AIM / iChat
  • MSN / Windows Live
  • Yahoo!
  • GoogleTalk
  • ICQ
  • Jabber
  • MySpace

Much like Palringo (and most other mobile instant messanger clients) this application is a battery hog and will probably cut your battery life in half if leave it running in the background … So make sure to exit the program when you’re done using it!

Palringo

Palringo

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My favorite instant messaging client… and its FREE to boot. Works with AIM, GTalk/Jabber, MSN, ICQ, Yahoo and Gadu. The Palringo team does a pretty good job of updating the software every 3-4 months adding new functionality and features. They monitor their forums pretty well — If you have a suggestion for them you should drop by and leave them a note.

Palringo

  • Requires registering (free) with the Palringo server at www.palringo.com.
  • Newly supports multiple conversations at a time via the “Chats” list.
  • Layout is not tailored to the Blackjack 2’s 320px x 240px screen.
  • When Palringo is run in the background for long periods of time (several hours) battery life is drastically reduced. Paringo has released a Data/Power Saving option in the “Settings” menu, however I have not had a chance to test how this effects usability or battery life.
Google Maps

Google Maps

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The reigning king of mobile maps. Works great with GPS Hack.

Google Maps

Note: Google Maps uses data!!! The actual map images are downloaded from Google’s servers just like image on the web. Be careful if you do not have an unlimited data usage plan because Google Maps may increase your phone bill.

Windows Live Search

Windows Live Search

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Great tool for finding things close to you. Live Search combines Maps, and a locale based business directory to help you find what you’re looking for on the go. Certainly a worth competitor to Google Maps. Integrates well with GPS hack.

Windows Live Search

TCPMP

TCPMP

WM 6.0 Direct Download (Download Page)

WM 6.1 Direct Download

For the past couple week’s I’ve been trying to do my part and take mass transit to work. Its only a 15 minute ride on the bus, which happens to the perfect about of time to toss on some tunes, check my favorite RSS feeds and respond to e-mails. The first couple of days I used Windows Media Player 10 Mobile for mp3 play back, but soon got annoyed at the controls, and song/album selection. I finally caved and dug up the CAB file for TCPMP (I was holding out until the BetaPlayer is released) and I was very pleasantly surprised.

TCPMP’s interface doesn’t look as slick as Windows Media Player, but I love all the features and extended functionality.

TCPMP Screenshot

Pros

  • Easy selection of files in the file system for playback. Select entire folders or individual files for playback.
  • Easily create/save/manage play lists on the fly by selecting individual/groups of files from the file system.
  • Doesn’t rely on ID3 tags (Unlike Windows Media Player’s library which lists by file meta-data ie. Artist, Album, Genre, etc.)
  • Easy to track/scrub through a song.
  • Plays a boat-load of media formats, including DivX. This makes it great for playing your movies/tv shows that are encoded with non-Microsoft codecs (aka pretty much everything oput there)
  • Handles album artwork.
  • Can create shortcuts for almost everything in the “Settings” menu
  • Tons (and I mean A LOT) settings that allow tweaking audio and video playback.

Cons

  • Interface could be more polished/slick.
  • Music playback sometimes stutters when I’m running a couple apps and typing a text message (this is due to lack of resources).
  • Doesn’t automatically mute for the duration of the phone call. It will must when you get the call, but when you answer the call it will resume playing — strange behavior.
  • Not skin-able?

There are also additional playback plug-ins available at bottom of the TCPMP Download Page that allow you to play FLAC, AC3, FFMPEG, VORIS, and other file formats.

Depending on the size/quality of your videos you may have to decrease the Video quality to “Low” or “Lowest” .. this shouldn’t make much of a perceivable drop in video quality (the Blackjack 2’s screen is so small that any decrease in “source” quality is washed out by the small resolution) , but the playback will be much smoother. I had to do this for my Flight of the Conchord’s clip (as seen above in the screenshot) which was 240MB for a 26 min file @ 624×352 .. I think videos that have a native resoluton of 320×240 will play back without issue but I have yet to test this theory.

FreeRange

FreeRange

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… So a day or two after my post announcing Viigo RSS Reader as the best free RSS Reader out there, I get an e-mail from Jon over at FreeRange notifying me the FreeRange RSS Reader for the Blackjack 2 has become completely free (it used to cost $25 a year).

I cross my fingers, hoping it would suck (so I didn’t have to write another post), and loaded it up onto my Blackjack 2. Much to my dismay it turned out to be a FANTASTIC RSS Reader beating Viigo as my favorite! (Viigo is still a great RSS Reader, but FreeRange is better)

FreeRange RSS Reader
Screenshots of fullscreen mode using Darkness Theme, Auto-Image-Download Disabled

Here’s what sets FreeRange apart from the crowd:

  • It is free.
  • The navigation is incredible intuitive. Its really easy to navigate through Feeds and their posts ONLY using the D-Pad .. No more soft-keys, or back buttons. The soft-keys are used for some advanced features, but I normally never leave the D-Pad.
  • FreeRange loads full post text (essentially the web page the RSS post links to) in its own viewer/web browser which is very fast and very lightweight.
  • Syncing RSS Feeds is very fast.
  • RSS article titles wrap so I can read the entire title before going on to read the full article.
  • FreeRange supports FULLSCREEN mode! I feel like my viewable area has almost doubled.
  • You can search all your Feeds for keywords (I am looking for a new HDTV, so now i can search all my Deal RSS feeds for the term “hdtv” and it’ll list all the relevant articles — to bad it doesn’t make them any more affordable!)
  • You can “Clip” articles. If you find an article that interests you, “clip” it which copies the article to a special “Clips” folder in FreeRange.  Pretty cool way to “remember” to read an article in full.
  • FreeRange has an offline mode that lets you .. ok, I’m not even going to go into this. It’s pretty cool if frequently don’t have signal. (Planes, basement IT office, coal mines, etc.)
  • Make your FreeRange account in the FreeRange client when you use it for the first time (ignore any warnings about limited use. Jon at FreeRange has assured me that FreeRange is free and fully functional).
  • Manage your RSS Feeds using the Blackjack 2 client app or on www.FreeRangeInc.com’s web front end.

Viigo

Viigo

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Viigo has become my favorite RSS reader for the Blackjack 2. I’ve hesitated to post a RSS reader because until I tried Viigo, I wasn’t entirely blown away. The stock Blackjack 2 RSS Reader is decent, but it’s a pain adding new feeds (no copy/paste on WM6). I tried out mDigger for awhile but something about it just seemed a little too clunky - I can’t put my finger on it.

I’ve been running Viigo for the past couple of days and am very pleased. Here’s what I really like about it:

  • When reading the “full article”, Viigo opens the full article in a Pocket IE window IN the Viigo client. You don’t have to worry about going back and forth between RSS Reader and Browser … VERY, VERY Cool feature.
  • Simple RSS feed administration via Web front end at Viigo.com
  • Fast update of all RSS feeds
  • Displays many headlines on a single screen
  • Keeps track of read headlines

Viigo

To use Viigo you’ll need to register and create an account with them (something you can actually do IN the Blackjack 2 client application!!) Using your account information, you can log in to Viigo’s Web front end, which is pretty plain, but allows you to manage easily your RSS feeds.

Evernote

Evernote

Download Page

Evernote has gone public! Sign-up for your Evernote account at Evernote.com today!

Evernote is a interesting online service that helps you manage your life via “notes”. Evernote has released a client app that provides a simple yet effective interface for creating text, picture and voice notes on your Smartphone. These notes are synced to Evernote’s online servers and can be managed via a web front end using either your computer or Smartphone.

Evernote is a cool service built on a great idea. I think it could prove to be a very powerful tool prove if used correctly and consistently.

Evernote

The main reason I tried Evernote out is I have the worst time remembering what I need to pickup from the store. Over the course of a week I’ll think of several out of the ordinary things that I need to buy - of course, when I go to the store at the end of the week, I’ve forgotten what these things are.

Before Evernote I didn’t have an convenient way to record these random shopping list items… Sure, I could write out a shopping list, but i’d often think of things when I wasn’t at home or far enough away from the list where I was just too lazy to run over and add it — plus im the kind of guy that cant hold onto a loose piece of paper to save his life.

Enter Evernote. Now I grab my phone (which I keep on me nearly all the time), fire up Evernote, and create a quick text, picture or voice note, and add it to my Evernote “Shopping List” Notebook. When im at the store, I pop open the Notebook and voila, I know exactly what I need to buy. Its especially cool because I can take quick pictures of stuff like an empty toothpaste tube so I can make sure to get the right flavor (I have the darndest time remembering what flavor of Aquafresh I like).

Anyhow - enough of my rant. Like I said, Evernote is cool, but it something you have to learn to integrate into your everyday routine to be truly useful. If youre not willing to do this, then it won’t be much use to you.

The only thing I don’t like about Evernote is that it uses your Smartphone’s web browser (PocketIE, Opera Mobile, etc) to view your notes. Sure it’s fast and clean, but I think it could be fastER and cleanER if they integrated this functionality into the Smartphone client app.

To use Evernote you must create an account on Evernote.com.

Dashwire

Dashwire

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Download (WM 6.1 Beta Client)

Dashwire is an innovative application that syncs/backs-up the contents of your Smartphone to Dashwire.com’s centralized servers. Dashwire will back up your:

  • Photos/Videos (Will not sync back to your phone)
  • Contacts
  • Call History
  • Text Message History (Will not sync back to your phone)
  • Ringtones
  • Bookmarks
  • Voice mails

All this information is accessible and manageable (add/edit/delete) via Dashwire.com’s dashboard.

When I first heard about this product a month or two ago, I was indifferent — thinking it was an interesting idea, but more of a gimmick than anything else. I have to admit though, the online dashboard is very nice and lets me manage many aspects of my phone quickly and efficiently (the full size qwerty on my Blackjack2 is great, but its got nothing on a full-size computer keyboard, and navigating Dashwire.com’s dashboard is much faster than navigating a Smartphone).

Update: I decided to create Outlook Contacts for all my SIM Contacts, so I logged into Dashwire.com, created new Outlook Contacts using the web interface (entering all that data with a REAL keyboard is soooo nice), and bingo-bango! I had over 20 new Outlook contacts in less than 10 mins! It would have taken me forever to do that on my phone.

Dashwire requires a free online registration, and you must download the client to your Smartphone.

Note: The first time you run the Dashwire client on your Smartphone, it may take a while to sync all the information to Dashwire’s servers.

Thanks to Cyclefreak for suggesting I give Dashwire a chance!

ActiveSync 4.5

ActiveSync 4.5

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You probably already have this, but if not, get it. This is a must have for any Blackjack 2 user with a Windows XP machine. ActiveSync will sync your contacts, calendar, notes, etc. with Outlook, and also provides a very nice interface for managing files and programs on your Blackjack 2.

ActiveSync has been replaced by the Windows Mobile Device Center (WMDC) in Windows Vista. Goto your Control Panel > Windows Mobile Device Center to access it.

ActiveSync is suggested for many of the hacks on this site.

Check this out if you are unable to see the “Windows” directory on your Blackjack 2 using ActiveSync/WMDC.

GMobileSync

GMobileSync

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Sync your Google Calendar to your Windows Mobile Calendar and back again! The only draw back is syncing is a manual process.